By By Mary-Allison Lancaster-Managing editor
The culmination of Cancer Awareness Month will end on Saturday, April 30, with Brewton's Relay For Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at the Brewton YMCA.
As a prelude to the event, Dr. Jimmy Adkisson, a retired physician in Brewton, spoke to members of Kiwanis Tuesday afternoon in an effort to educate the causes and preventions of cancer.
First things first; what is cancer? In a nutshell, cancer is an abnormal cell that goes "crazy" for unknown reasons. The second cell produced is a nonfunctional cell that develops other nonfunctional cells at a very rapid rate.
There are many types of cancers that can be separated in three categories – male, female and common cancer.
The most common forms of cancer found in males are prostate, testicle and penile cancer, which is pretty rare, Adkisson said.
Cancers typically found in females are ovarian, endometrial (found in the uterus) and cervical, while common cancers (found in males and females) are lung, liver, breast, colon, skin and pancreas.
Dr. Adkisson briefly discussed three basic kinds of skin cancer and how they spread, through the blood, lymph nodes or contiguously.